With spring in cattle country comes branding season, and many ranching families are in throes of making sure they mark their livestock, burning their irons into the hides of this year’s calf crop.
Over the weekend, the Reams family branded about 90 calves. For the Reams, like many others in the West End, brandings are a family affair that includes friends too.
Carla Reams told the Forum on Monday the work is important in keeping track of livestock, and it doesn’t harm the animal. It’s also important for the sale barn too, when the brand inspector does his job.
“Branding is done for identification purposes,” Carla Reams said. “Typically, ranchers will use more than just iron branding as identification. Ear tags are also a way to identify, and sometimes ear notching is another.”
She said the Reams do cut the bottom off the ears straight across, leaving the ears to be more pointed. It helps the family identify their own cows from a distance, when the brands are not easily seen.
At the Reams family branding this year roping were Kijla Randall, Kim Collins, Lo Snyder, Dane Shaffer, JW Nasland, Dan Moyer, Cody Butler and Cliff Chiles. And, the younger generations were involved — something Reams said is important. The Weimer and Reams kids with the Smuin girls all took turns roping from the ground, while immediate family members ran the irons and did the tagging.
The crews also handled castrating and vaccinating too.
“It was a good roping crew and ground crew — good group of people” she said.
The Reams family keeps their herd on BLM land or their own property too, and they gather from there, moving them into corrals. The first-year heifers — cows who’ve not given birth yet — are kept at the ranch all winter, so they can be more easily watched, in case they have any difficulty giving birth. Reams said her family is set to brand their first-year heifer calves next.
Once get everything is branded, livestock will be moved to the first grazing permit of year, higher country on public lands. About every month or so, they’ll move a little higher and end up in some USFS area. Many West End families have similar grazing practices and schedules, though some have their own acreages they stay on too.
And, like others in the cattle business, the Reams will sell their steers later for market; heifers, though, will be kept for breeding, and the cycle continues.
After a day’s work ranching, the Reams family, as is tradition, feeds the people who helped out. This year, cooked in dutch ovens were potatoes and sausage, ribs, and also ham and beans. Chocolate chip cookies were enjoyed after.
Carla Reams said she enjoys participating in her family’s brandings.
“Other local ranching friends will help one another brand,” she said, “along with friends and family who just want to take part. We usually have a meal afterwards together. I love it.”
